


Seeping Warmth

by kimchenidae



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, And jongdae being stubborn, Baekhyun taking care of Jongdae, Fluff, M/M, Mutual Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-01
Updated: 2020-10-01
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:28:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26447824
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kimchenidae/pseuds/kimchenidae
Summary: Jongdae is always there when people need him.And Baekhyun is always there when Jongdae needs him.
Relationships: Byun Baekhyun/Kim Jongdae | Chen, Do Kyungsoo | D.O/Park Chanyeol
Comments: 22
Kudos: 81
Collections: Shall we Chen? Fictional Fest First Round





	Seeping Warmth

**Author's Note:**

> [Prompt #385]
> 
> Um. Hi?
> 
> This fic is here because a certain vine came up in my head when I read the prompt. So, yeah. Actually, this is the first fic I ever finished and post. I know there's still a lot of room to improve. But, we all have to start somewhere, I guess?
> 
> Anyway, dear T, thank you for being my beta. and also for pushing me to claim the prompt. Without you, I don't think this fic will happen knowing how such a procrastinator I am.
> 
> So, by this, I hope you enjoy my firstborn.

It's final week soon. Hence why everyone is rushing their steps across the campus. The library is packed with students cramming their books. Every student seems busy focusing on the exam. And Jongdae is no exception. Baekhyun hasn't seen his best friend in days. Even though they live in the same apartment with his other best friend, Park Chanyeol, he is only able to see him late at night when he is barely awake or in the morning when he rushes off to his morning class.

Baekhyun knows how busy medical students can be. However, Jongdae is destroying himself. After knowing him since they were in diapers, he knows how Jongdae will prefer to help his classmate study or his professor asking him for something rather than taking some rest. Always taking care of other people before himself.

Jongdae's lack of self-care is worrying Baekhyun. He is too benevolent to decline anything or anyone. There are times when his best friend came home with fatigue written all over his face and still asked him if he needs any help with cooking dinner.

So Baekhyun decides to take this matter to his own hand. If Jongdae won't take care of his own body, he will be the one who brings him back to home, feeds him, strips him, takes him to bath, and tucks him to bed. 

Okay, maybe not strip and bath him. But he might be if Jongdae comes back late again tonight.

Baekhyun waits till 9 pm. He checks his messages with his best friend. Jongdae still hasn't read his texts. He thinks, therefore, he'll drag him home by himself. He pulls his hoodie over his head then puts his phone and wallet in his back pocket.

As he walks out of his room, he finds Chanyeol longing on the sofa with potato chips crumbs around his mouth. He has been laying on that sofa for hours. Mouth mindlessly munching on the potato chips while his eyes are too focussed on the television. He was supposed to study too but he knows his best friend would procrastinate till the night before the exam. 

"Finish studying?" Chanyeol asked. Upon noticing Baekhyun walking to the front door, Chanyeol's eyes follow his every movement. "Where are you going?"

"I'm going to drag Jongdae back. I saw him this afternoon looking like a zombie." He puts his shoes on and checks his phone again in case Jongdae reads his texts and informs him about his current location. There is none. "Anyway, do you know where he is at?"

"He does need some sleep," Chanyeol's eyes rolled up like how they usually do when he is trying to turn the gears inside his head. "Oh, I met him a few hours ago. I think he was heading to the library. If he really was, he must be still in there right now."

"Okay. Thanks, Yeol. Don't forget to clean the crumbs!" He opens the door and rushes down the stairs. The cold air of night meets his face. It's going to get colder in a few days. He needs to remind Jongdae to wear more clothes.

After fifteen minutes of walks from their apartment to school, he finally reached the library. He finds Jongdae on the third floor burying himself in books. He is half-asleep.  _ So cute _ . He walks to him and takes a seat beside his best friend. 

With the sudden presence of someone, Jongdae jolts awake and raises his head. When he is greeted by the look of his best friend, a grin stretched across his face. "Hi! What are you doing here?" He began.

"Tell me. How many hours of sleep do humans need?"

Jongdae looked puzzled, "At least seven. Why?"

Ignoring the question, Baekhyun asks him again. "And how many hours of sleep did you get the last few days, Dae?"

Knowing where this conversation is going, Jongdae frowns, "Two. But I promise to sleep more this weekend."

"Come on. You know that you can't just pile up your sleep like when Chanyeol did his laundry. And I'm not the one who is the medical student here." He sighed. He moves and collects Jongdae's colorful pens and highlighters to put them back in his pencil case.

"But I haven't finished reading this topic yet," Jongdae's lips jutted out. He is pouting.  _ Oh _ , Jongdae's pouts are his weakness.

He pulls himself together. Poking Jongdae's cheek with his index fingers as he nags, "Ah, Jongdae, don't even try to throw puppy eyes at me. Look at that dark circle around your eyes. You can finish it after you take some sleep."

He keeps pouting while shoving his books back to his bag. He is muttering something that sounds like, "You nag more than my own mom." Baekhyun ignores him while he helps to tidy up his books.

They walk together to their apartment, stopping for a while to buy food from the food stall they met on the way. Jongdae hasn't eaten anything since noon. Baekhyun insists for them to stop and eat some food after he hears Jongdae's stomach growling. They eat the food on the sidewalk while Baekhyun tells him the story of how he found Chanyeol making out and humping each other with his boyfriend, Kyungsoo, on their sofa yesterday. Jongdae groans at the image. They don't want to know what other things the love birds have done on that sofa.

When they finally reach home, Jongdae plops himself on the sofa. Burying himself on the pillow. But the image of his best friend doing things on that sofa makes him stand up immediately to go to his room. Baekhyun chuckles at his crush-slash-best friend's cute antics. He takes a look at the said sofa and shudders at the memory.

* * *

Baekhyun's last class of the day was canceled. So, Baekhyun being Baekhyun, decided to use the extra time for playing video games, filling the whole room with strings of curses. There is one of his teammates doesn't seem to know how to play. He needs to raise his level but this one person has become a burden to the whole team. When the game ends with another loss, he throws his headphones on the table and lets out another string of curses. All of sudden, he hears the front door getting kicked. He wonders who that could be. Chanyeol is still in his class. He also said he was going to have dinner with Kyungsoo later. And Jongdae... he usually doesn't come home this early. 

He decided to check the front door. Just in case it turns out to be a thief sneaking up their home, he picked up his old baseball bat. He walks through the hallway and rounds the corner to peeks at the front door. He wasn't prepared for the view that greets him. It was Jongdae who opened the door. He is wet from head to the toe. His white baggy shirt sticks to his skin. Baekhyun's mind wanders off for a while but then turns into concern in a second when he looks at Jongdae's face. His face is paler than yesterday. He seems annoyed with lips downturned. His shoulder is hunched and his body is shivering. He frowned.

"Why are you looking like a wet dog?" asked Baekhyun.

Jongdae looked up from taking off his shoes. His lips stretch a little but not quite meet his eyes. "I had something to do after class. I thought I could make it home dry."

Baekhyun eyes him. "Wait. Stay right there." Baekhyun runs to the bathroom to snatch a couple of towels, turns on the warm water to fill the tub, and runs back to Jongdae at the front door. He wraps his best friend’s body with the towel to cover his shivering body. He maneuvers him to sit in a chair. Since Jongdae is sitting, it gives height advantage to Baekhyun so he can dry his dripping hair with another towel. Jongdae just sits there with eyes half-asleep with Baekhyun drying his hair. 

After a few minutes, Jongdae stops shivering. Baekhyun breaks the silence, "Just, go take a warm bath. I'll prepare tea to warm you."

"You don't have to, Baek," Jongdae mumbles but Baekhyun is fast and already pushing him towards the bathroom.

He boils the water to prepare chamomile tea. While waiting for the water, he mops the wet floor and heats the leftover food they have.

Just in time, he hears Jongdae finish the bath and walk into the kitchen. He turns his body to look at Jongdae already plopped on the table. His hair is wet again from the bath. Baekhyun pours the tea into a mug and puts it in front of Jongdae.

Jongdae mumbles a soft thanks and takes a sip. He moans as the warmth seeping through his body. A few seconds passed when Jongdae thrust him a towel. " _ Hyung _ , can you dry my hair again?"

Baekhyun chuckles. He wants to say,  _ Of course, he would do anything for Jongdae. _ But instead, he grunts, "You big baby. You can do it yourself." Baekhyun still takes the towel and walks to get behind him anyway because, yes, he is that  _ whipped. _

Another comfortable silence stretches. Jongdae throws back his head as Baekhyun does his job. He closes his eyes and hums their favorite song. Baekhyun sings along with him. When the song ends, Jongdae starts, "My groupmates hadn't done his part of the job even though the due was soon. So he asked me to help him because he said I'm  _ smart _ and  _ oh-so-selfless. _ You know, I don't feel well today and was planning to get home early. Guess today isn't my lucky day."

"You could have just said no," replies Baekhyun.

"Oh, I do want to say no." He pauses for a few seconds to let out a sigh. "But it is hard when people see you with eyes full of expectations. I do not want to disappoint them. I don't want to do his job but, well, at least our job is done now."

And the silence stretches. Baekhyun hates the people who take his best friend's genuine heart for granted. He wrecks his mind to say something comforting for his best friend. But after a few moments, nothing good comes out. So he decides to just stay true to what he feels to the other boy.

"Jongdae, people won't see you differently just because you can't fulfill what they want. You are still going to be the cute, kind, funny, smart, and humble person everyone knows. Standing up for yourself doesn't make you annoying, Dae. You shouldn't let people walk over you and then expect them to change with your kindness. Not everyone deserves your attention." On the spur of the moment, he leans forward to hug him from behind. He buries his face on his freshly washed hair and leaves a kiss on top. He whispers, "You should stop giving everyone what they want and start making them listen to what you want too. That mentality must be exhausting." They stay like that for a few minutes in silence. Until Jongdae let out a deep sigh.

"Thank you,  _ hyung _ ."

* * *

The next morning, Baekhyun wakes up and makes himself a cup of coffee. He hears the rustling of Jongdae when he is preparing his stuff for his class. He prepares another cup of coffee for him. Once Jongdae's face shows up, he looks pale. His lips are so white and his face is sunken. He looks weak.

Noticing the way Baekhyun is looking so concerned at him, Jongdae speaks up. "What are you looking at?"

That supposed to sound biting but it sounds so barely above a whisper. "You look dead."

Jongdae ignored him and took the coffee he offered. He took a few sips and put the mug on the table. He mumbled a barely audible  _ thanks _ then turned to walk out of the front door.

Baekhyun can’t let him go when he looks so sick. So he pulls his wrist to hold him back from going to class. He turns Jongdae to look at him and puts his hand on his forehead.  _ Shit, he is burning. _

Baekhyun looked at him dead at his eyes. "I won't let you go. You belong to the bed.  _ Now _ ."

Surprisingly, Jongdae doesn't argue. He walks Jongdae to his bed and takes his bag from his shoulder. He then manhandled him to lay and tucks him to bed. Jongdae was too weak to argue. He lets himself be cared for by Baekhyun. It didn't take long for Jongdae to drift off to sleep.

After making sure Jongdae's breath was even, Baekhyun walked out of the room and decided to prepare a congee for him.

In the middle of cooking, Baekhyun saw Jongdae wake up and moved into the living room to sleep on the sofa. He prepared a glass of water and put it on the table near him. He checked his temple to feel the heat.  _ Ah, he is getting worse. _ He has to ask Chanyeol to buy medicine on his way back from school.

"Jongdae, I put the water here. Don't forget to drink some," He said as he swept Jongdae's hair from his forehead. He only gets an incoherent reply from him. Seeing the boy already diving back to sleep, he goes back to continue his cooking.

* * *

  
  


When the congee finished, Jongdae was still sleeping peacefully. So, he decided to wait for him to awake and warm the congee later.

Baekhyun sits on the floor beside him. He is so worried about his condition. He already told Chanyeol to buy medicine on his way back. He hopes Chanyeol comes back soon.

"Baekhyun..." Jongdae stirs awake though he barely opens his eyes. He groans in a rough voice. His fever keeps increasing from what Baekhyun checked two hours ago. Seeing Jongdae like this hurts his heart.

"What's wrong? I'm here."

"Thirsty…" Baekhyun brought the glass on the table near Jongdae's face, helping him to drink some water. He put back the glass on the table. He helps Jongdae to lay back again.

"Are you hungry? I prepared a congee. I'll warm it up for you in a bit." Baekhyun only received a grumbled reply. He heats up the food for a little bit and pours it into a bowl. When he comes back to the living room, he finds Jongdae warped like a cocoon with his blanket. His heart clenched. This boy in front of him is the cutest human he ever knew.

"I don't want to eat," whines Jongdae from under the blanket.

"Jongdae, come on eat some. You have to eat something before you take the medicine." Baekhyun lifts the blanket that covers his face to reveal a pouting Jongdae. He moves Jongdae's legs and sits on the sofa then puts them back on his lap. With a bowl of congee in his left hand and a spoon full of it in his other hand, he tried to shove that spoon to Jongdae. "Come on you big baby. Open up. I made this myself."

Hearing Baekhyun is the one who makes the effort to cook him food, Jongdae forces himself to swallow the food. However, because of his sleeping position, the food went to the wrong pipe. He coughs hard. Without a beat, Baekhyun thrust a glass of water in front of his face. "Here. You have to sit first."

Jongdae gets into a sitting position and takes the glass. After taking a few gulps, he gives back the glass to him. Baekhyun leans forward to put the glass back to the table. When he shuffles back to his former position, Jongdae out of the blue moves into his lap. "Baekhyun, feed me."

Baekhyun was surprised by the sudden weight on his lap. He keeps staring at the boy in front of him. The boy looks a little bit delirious. "Feed me," he repeats.

Still surprised, Baekhyun just obeys him and raises the spoon into Jongdae's mouth. His heart is beating faster and faster. It feels like it's going to burst. It also doesn't help that Jongdae is looking at him so intensely. He is just sitting there, on his lap, accepting every spoonful of congee he offered. It's not his fault that he can't help being so tempted to kiss those pink lips in front of his face. He kept feeding him quietly but his eyes never left the curl of his lip. 

He didn’t realize when or how those lips are getting closer but before he knows it, the lips are already on his. All he can see is curly eyelashes fluttering slowly. He freezes. It's so soft. Jongdae tries to move his lips. He immediately responds to him. He tries to keep up with Jongdae's move. The kiss is getting heated. After a few minutes, they pull away for a breath.

"You taste like chicken stock," is what Baekhyun says to break the silence. Jongdae replied with a low whine, lightly pinching his side. The wet lips are jutting out at him.

"Um, so…" Jongdae began. He is looking anywhere but his eyes while biting his swollen lips. Baekhyun's heart feels so full. He is waiting for the boy to continue his words as he takes his hands and rests them on his heart. It meant to tell him that whatever he said next, he feels the same. He blushes, cheeks getting redder now due to his fever and the kiss. "Huh, your heart is beating too fast." 

"Oh no. Doctor Kim, please help me, is there something wrong with my heart?" He acts. Jongdae looks so amused with his antics.

"Yeah. It's very serious, actually," He paused. He turns his eyes and is playing along with him. "I think that happens when you suffer from lovesickness. Oh my god, look at your eyes. You really like me. How come I didn't see it sooner."

"Ah, I hate you," he groans. 

"Someone down there doesn't think the same." Jongdae's eyes flitted down at his lap. He feels like his face burns into one hundred degrees celsius.

He lets out an awkward laugh. Pink blush is also adorning Jongdae's cheeks so beautifully. Their eyes are full of fondness as they map each other’s faces. They dip for another kiss. This time, it was deeper. Jongdae licks Baekhyun's lips, asking for him to let him in. He slightly parted his lips. When their tongue meets, they both are furiously trying to taste more of the other. Baekhyun hugs Jongdae's waist closer and holds him to go deeper by his neck. Jongdae circling his arms around his neck, and resting his upper arms on his shoulders. He lets out a moan when Baekhyun licks the roof of his mouth.

"What the fuck. Is that allowed?" Surprised by the sudden loud voice, they immediately break their kiss and meet with the view of Chanyeol with a bag of medicine on his hand and Kyungsoo standing at the door. Turns out they didn't notice the sound of the lock turning from outside when Chanyeol arrived.

"Jongdae, didn't you say you guys are just best friends?" Asks Kyungsoo rhetorically. With the new audiences, Jongdae gets very sheepish. He hides his face on the crook of Baekhyun's neck and mumbles something that sounds like  _ I have never said I didn't like him _ .

"You should've waited for another week!" Chanyeol grumbles as he opens his wallet and shoves some money to Kyungsoo.

"You guys were betting on us?" They both squealed. Baekhyun throws their sofa pillow at him while Jongdae turns his head slightly to send a piercing glare at them.

* * *

Jongdae is feeling better the next day. His fever was tamed in the middle of the night. But there's another problem, now Baekhyun is the one who got the fever.

"This is your fault," scolds Jongdae. He shoves the congee Jongdae made this morning into Baekhyun's mouth. Baekhyun is forced to accept the food because he feels like Jongdae will stab him with the spoon if not. He doesn't want to admit it out loud but the congee tastes better than the one he made yesterday.

"I was really sweet to you yesterday." He pouts. Jongdae lets out a sigh. He brings another spoonful of congee to Baekhyun's lips.

"Well, it's not my fault that you decided to make out with me and get infected too." 

Baekhyun really wants to retort and says,  _ wasn't that you who leaned in first. _ Instead, he asks, "Cuddle me?" Baekhyun spread his arms, pulling Jongdae to come, laying beside him on the bed. He rolls his eyes at him but his lips let out a soft smile. He put the bowl on the side table pulling Baekhyun to put his head on his chest. He lets out a pleased sigh. "You are so warm."

Jongdae brings up his hand to stroke his head. His other hand pulls Baekhyun closer, bringing him to his lap. Baekhyun curls his body to a fetal position on his lap. Jongdae pats his butts and says, "There, there, puppy."

**Author's Note:**

> Tell me what you think!!^^


End file.
